1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to medical devices and methods of manufacturing the same. Specifically, to present disclosure relates fluid ingress protection in a surgical instrument and methods for assembling the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Electrosurgical medical devices have become widely used by surgeons. Electrosurgical medical devices may include a hand-held instrument, e.g., pencil, which transfers radio-frequency (RF) electrical energy to a tissue site from a suitable electrosurgical generator. The electrical current may be returned to the source via a return electrode pad positioned under a patient, or a smaller return electrode positioned in bodily contact, with or immediately adjacent to, the surgical site. The waveforms which result from the RF electrical current may be used to produce a variety of effects, depending on the power applied, and the frequency used. These effects include surgical cutting, coagulation, cauterization, or sealing.
As electrosurgical pencils are, even when assembled by humans, relatively small and simple devices, and used by medical professionals under circumstances which may benefit from a “disposable” tool, electrosurgical pencils have become less expensive to produce. However, like most manufactured items, and all medical tools (especially inexpensive medical tools), the cost of manufacture, and the distribution of electrosurgical pencils, along with the necessity to repurchase such “disposable” tools as they are discarded, adds greatly to their overall cost to the surgical profession and, ultimately, to their patients and health care costs. What is needed, then, is an even less resource intensive method of manufacturing electrosurgical pencils. The savings in resources may be achieved at the stage where the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry is loaded into the molded insulative holding and positioning body of the electrosurgical pencil hand piece. Further savings may be achieved if a very low cost hand piece, which may be discarded after use, is matched with high quality electrical conductors (leading from the hand piece back to the generator), which may be retained and reused.